Quarantine Online Sets: Version 6

In Version 5 of this blog site, I talked about the Wednesday, April 8th, sets that I caught. Well, my Wednesday kept going. WFNM was hosting a number of musicians and I happened to catch two of them: Madison Malone and Holander.

Madison Malone on WFNM

Madison Malone played with her phone right up to her face. The music had that singer-songwriter charm to it. Toward the beginning of the set, there was a mid-song disruption. Her phone charger slipped and fell onto the floor and the phone followed. Yet, the Instagram feed didn't shut down. She just had to pick up the phone and charger, set things right, and re-start her song at the chorus.

Holander with her pink hair wasn't able to do her dance routine (which I saw her do when I caught her at the Bootleg Theater), but her acoustic set still highlighted the dance qualities of her music. She also conveyed her bubbly personality over the web.

Holander

Perhaps the best set I've seen online during this time of quarantine was Thursday's Poppy Jean Crawford's set on Buzzbands. Okay, maybe tied with Strawberry Army's online set. Her set was in a nicely decorated room, which included colorful paper thin sheets that covered the walls and windows. They were thin enough to allow the late afternoon sun to provided light for the set. She played the set sitting on a rug. Though the set wasn't as psychedelic as her live sets, her set still carried the undertone of her live show.

Poppy Jean Crawford

What was also just fun was the interaction she carried on with the audience and her mom who was off to the side. She'd read the comments and then her mom would make comments. Then when she started to feel a little nervous, her mom encouraged her to smoke a cigarette. The comments section exploded when she lit up a cigarette with people asking her not to smoke.

Day 4: Echo Park Rising

Day 4 at Echo Park Rising was my fun day. I wasn't shooting for Buzzbands so I showed up later than I would have if I was shooting for the site and I just set up camp at The Echo/Echoplex.

The day started out catching a couple touring bands. Autumn was coming in from Minnesota while The Bellwether Syndicate hailed from Chicago. Both rocked it out under the lights of the Echoplex. What was the best moment of the two sets was actually what happened after The Bellwether Syndicate. The drummer brought up his little girl who started banging away on one of the drums.

Autumn

The Bellwether Syndicate

Collapsing Scenery didn't play the main stage at the Echoplex. No, they played in the far back corner of the venue. I didn't even realize it until just before they were about to play. I was just hanging out at the main stage, watching the young kid having the time of her life. I turned around and there were sheets hanging from the ceiling and floor lights shining. Yep, that was Collapsing Scenery. That band loves to rock against the backdrop of flashing lights.

Collapsing Scenery

Then it was a rush upstairs to The Echo to catch Ever So Android. They started their set a touch early, because as I headed up a little before their 6:45 p.m. start time I could hear them hitting up their first song. The venue was packed for their set. Some call their sound goth punk. Others call it industrial. It doesn't matter, I love their music and was thrilled they were playing in front of such a large crowd. Lead singer Hope jumped into the audience for one song to get the mosh pit going. A guy to my side decided it was a good time to protect his $10 drink.

Ever So Android

I then rushed back down to the Echoplex to catch a few songs by Poppy Jean Crawford. Love her quiet attitude on stage.

Poppy Jean Crawford

Then it was back to close things out at The Echo with Dancing Tongues, Draemings, R Clown (no known link) and The Bank of America (no known link).

Draemings is a favorite of mine. I heard someone to the side of me say of lead singer Kimi, "She's so pretty, I love her." In regards to Kimi, this was her 6th set of the festival. She did 4 sets with her band Kevin, one with Draemings and a solo set. And this was done over 3 days and not 4 days. Talk about being busy. Maybe driven by surviving those 6 sets, she jumped into the crowd and danced with great joy.

Draemings

As for The Bank of America, I couldn't catch The Paranoyds as I was doing photography on the east side during their Friday set. So what do I do, I catch The Bank of America. Lexi of The Paranoyds is in the band. This band is totally different from The Paranoyds. There are no vocals. The band just jams, sending out pulsating beats.

The Bank of America

Dancing Tongues and R Clown got the crowd hyped up for some mosh pit action. The crowds were still ready for the mosh pit even after four days of music.

Dancing Tongues

R Clown

The Satellite: The Vim Dicta, Broken Baby, Poppy Jean Crawford

It was off to The Satellite to catch The Vim Dicta. The first time I saw them was in 2013 during Chinatown Summer Nights. Strangely, based on my notes, a few days before their set I randomly caught the lead singer on television talking about the high gas prices at the time. I saw them a handful of other times with my last time catching them in 2015. Then they dropped off my map. Then flash forward to 2018 and I saw that they were on the schedule at The Satellite. I circled the date. I even cut out on a dinner with a friend to make sure I didn't miss their set. Their sound goes from fusion jazz to straight out rock. And during their set on this night, I couldn't help but love when the lead singer mugged for the camera.

The Vim Dicta

Broken Baby was holding their record release party. I first saw this band at the Redwood Bar earlier this year. I have to say that The Satellite stage gave the band far more freedom than the much smaller stage of the Redwood Bar. Lead singer, Amber, took full advantage of it. She put on a vibrantly entertaining stage show. They have a wonderful Living Colour genre sound.

Broken Baby

Poppy Jean Crawford closed out the night. She has an aggressive Mazzy Star sound. I know that Mazzy Star is used as an comparison way too much. Let's just say that she has a moody sound that takes on an aggressive tone. The individual running the lights must have felt that moody tone, because for much of the set the lights were dimmed to a low red/blue scheme.

Poppy Jean Crawford